A
Most of the sandstorms that had swept China last year came from foreign land, a Chinese official in charge of desertification (荒漠化) control said on Monday. And the invasions (入侵) could partly explain the frequent sandstorms in the country in recent years despite its achievements in desertification control.
Since the start of last spring, the north and northwestern Chinese regions had been hit by 17 sandstorms, of which, a dozen came from foreign land.
Situated in the centralAsia sandstorm region, one of the world's four largest sandstorm sources, China also suffers from sandstorms from outside the country while being blamed as a sand source to northeast Asia. The other three major sources are in Africa, North America and Australia.
The land suffering from desertification has been decreasing by 7,585 square kilometres annually in China, and the area of sandy land has also been falling by 1,284 square kilometres a year.
The shrinkage (收缩) forms a clear contrast to the fact that the land suffering from desertification and sandy feature was added by 10,400 square kilometres and 3,436 square kilometres late last century, respectively.
Currently, the desertification land in China makes up 2.64 million square kilometres, accounting for 27.46 percent of the nation's land, and its sandy land totals 1.74 million square kilometres, accounting for 18.1 percent of the country's total.
1．What does the underlined word “decreasing” mean in Paragraph 4?
A．Going down. B．Going up.
C．Coming from. D．Taking up.
解析：选A 词义猜测题。根据第四段最后一句中的“has also been falling by 1,284 square kilometres a year”可知，该词的意思是“减少”，故选A项。
2．Where do most of the sandstorms in China come from?
A．The northwestern Chinese regions.
B．The northern Chinese regions.
C．The western part of China.
D．Foreign countries.
解析：选D 细节理解题。根据第一段第一句可知，去年袭击中国的沙尘暴大部分来自外国，故选D项。
3．Which of the following is believed to be the sand source to northeast Asia?
A．Mongolia. B．Africa.
C．China. D．Australia.
解析：选C 细节理解题。根据第三段第一句中的“China also suffers from sandstorms ... sand source to northeast Asia”可知，中国被认为是东北亚风沙的来源地，故选C项。
4．What can we infer from this passage?
A．The land in China suffering from desertification has been increasing greatly.
B．China has made achievements in its own desertification control.
C．The desertification land makes up nearly half of China's territory.
D．Little progress has been made in controlling desertification in China.
解析：选B 推理判断题。根据第四段可知，遭受风沙袭击的土地每年减少7 585平方千米，由此沙地的区域每年减少1 284平方千米，由此可推知控制沙漠化取得了成效，故选B项。
